


Lòmwe Nòchi

by rin0rourke



Series: Athiluhakán [2]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Casual Sex, Friends With Benefits, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-08-28 10:35:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8442505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rin0rourke/pseuds/rin0rourke
Summary: Jack and Bunnymund come to an understanding on where they stand with the attraction between them, but while they agree to share each other's beds their hearts remain as unreachable as ever.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My entries for Jackrabbit week 2016, which sat in a notebook as I procrastinated typing it up on my phone. Post Movie, it contains side stories from Chapter 16 of 'Oselenemai' through to the end of 'Pehewe Na Kun' depicting the drama Aster and Jack go through while they navigate the landmine of emotional baggage they have between them. Mostly it's the smut heavy side piece to the much more serious main story. Contains some minor spoilery elements.

Morning

*

Although, I admit, I desire

Occasionally, some backtalk

From the mute sky

-Sylvia Plath

*

The sky was a sullen, bitter gray, Jack studied it from his perch in an ugly, twisted tree bent from storm and age like a stern, arthritic old man. The wind was damp and restless, bare black branches all around him rapped against each other in its wake like angry shaking fists.

The snow on the ground was a muddy trampled mess, half melted and refrozen through the night as he slept above it, wanting to watch the sun rise above the ocean, the rusted line between blue sky and foam laced sea, the spear of light shooting through the water as that first curve of sun inched over the edge of the world, before he headed further North. He had searched well into the night for best spot, settling down in the storm battered tree so he could get the perfect shot of the cliffs that swooped out to sea like a sweeping rocky arm gesturing to the horizon and the dramatic rocks that churned the waves into a frothy gray-green.

He had wanted to capture it, keep it, make it his, but had woken to the temperamental sky grumbled overhead, threatening the first rainstorm of spring.

Disoriented and groggy he crouched in the branches, TwineTender in his hand, and blinked up at the agitated storm. That wasn't right. He hadn't brought anything for a thunderstorm, the wide lense was fine, but he only brought the gradual neutral density filter, and he needed faster film, fast enough for the lightning and the naked lashing branches.

He looked down at his camera, frustrated at himself for not bringing his supplies, he had settled down to sleep instead of flying through the night specifically so he could take pictures, now he would be showing up late to the pole with nothing after he promised North photos of the New England coast at sunrise.

He watched the brightening line of gray between the churning sky and choppy water and considered taking the shot anyway, just to have something. He adjusted the shutter speed and removed the filter, wished for a polarizer, wished for his slide film, and wished for that unseen sunrise.

The wind gave him a hard, aggrieved shove at the same time that first angry lightning strike arched from cloud to cloud across the resentful sky.

He lowered the camera, and tucked it back under his hoodie, feeling as disgruntled as the sky. He wouldn't waste film on a poor shot just to have it, even if he now had the film to waste, no longer limited to found and stolen rolls, no longer struggling to frame and capture in the time between frozen lenses.

His head hurt, his stomach churned, guilt and shame layered over him like a sticky, humid blanket. It was spring, and he should be long gone, the Guardians were expecting him, and the rain would be cold and sharp enough without him here turning it to sleet.  

There would always be storms, always be sunrises.

He let the sodden wind scoop him up and toss him out to sea, saltspray stung his face and eyes and plastered his hair to his skull, but that was fine. He didn't mind getting a little damp, not like his brisk mountain wind did. Still, he didn't completely trust that his temperamental partner wouldn't dunk him, and his spelled camera, in the churning brine.

He twisted in the wind and slid his staff downward, using TwineTender to alter their course. The wind bucked angrily under him, but allowed itself to be led. Crabby morning or no, they were still a team.

Once they were out beyond the storm and had shed most of their moisture the ride went smoothly. They would both have been happier heading upwards to their glacier capped mountains, spending the Thaw in Pamola's ancient home as they had every spring for 300 years, but Jack had promised to attend this year's Equinox at the Pole.

The idea of being around so many strange spirits, seasonal spirits, put him on edge. His seasons didn't follow the stars and the dates, his seasons came and went as they pleased, like the freezing and melting of a river, or the drifting of a storm, it was a culture clash he and the foreign spirits had never been able to overcome.

Within an hour he was skimming past the Greenland coast where the Eider were building their nests along a narrow beach below high cliffs of dark broken looking stones stacked like misshapen building blocks. The sandy strand was brown stained by long darker streaks from the mineral rich stone and guano.

A polar bear ambled along the seabank, nosing in empty nests and being chased off by scandalized fowl. Finally it seemed to come upon a nest of chicks, the squawking parents' violent response to its raid not seeming to bother it in the least. Jack flew onwards, not caring to witness the end to the chicks' short lives. The horrified voices of the Eider followed him, but there was nothing any of them could do against this act of nature. Spring was as much a harvest as Autumn.

 It didn't take him much longer to reach the Arctic Ocean, he passed the terrestrial North Pole marker with its long streamer of flags and veered slightly towards Russia, where the ever migrating Geomagnetic North Pole had once invited the man who would be Santa Claus to build his new Golden Age.

 North's Pole slowly revealed itself in the glitter of orange sunlight against the windows and the thin lines of rope and wooden bridges between his towers and turrets. It was a fortress city built to withstand siege and seasons, and had stood for as long as Jack had been alive, until Jack had fucked them all over and nearly handed Pitch Black his victory.

 For now though it carved itself an imposing image into the ice cliffs, the magic of North's wards shimmering like diamond dust in the air.  With it's helmet and onion shaped domes and pear shaped windows it truly did look like an old Russian city of stone and wood in the embrace of the glaciers.

 Jack indulged in a quick fly through the bulbous structures decked out with their colorful egg shaped christmas lights and evergreen wreaths for the festivities. He wondered if anyone else had ever pointed out to the competitive Guardians how much influence they drew from each other, even Tooth's palace looked like towering flower buds. He amused himself with the image of North's face if he said so, how he'd bluster and declare that they were shaped like CANDLES not flower buds or onion bulbs or eggs, but he and the others would know.

 They loved each other. It soothed something inside him to know this, all the years he had watched them from a distance thinking they had merely tolerated each other, why else would they place themselves so far apart and meet so rarely?

 He touched down on a smaller window ledge into the main workshop rather than the grand moonroof entrance for aerial arrivals hoping he could slip in relatively unnoticed and maybe avoid the full crush of the crowd. The rafters were likely to be less occupied, North having halted the work on the production floors of the main building for the day to open up more room for his guests. It would be interesting to see how the workshop looked with a different kind of controlled chaos.

 From his perch on the upper window he could see across to the Globe Room where the host received his guests, the circular levels were lines with buffet tables but the small seating area to the side of the grand fireplace remained only mildly cluttered with the Guardian's beverages, it was a smaller, intimate space where they sat with only those they invited into conversation. If Jack could get across the workshop to there without incident he could easily find one of his friends before being besieged with strange, or familiar, spirits.

 The last thing he needed was a run in with a seasonal he was on bad terms with.

 He tried to jimmy the window open, but it was stuck fast, frozen. He laughed, North's wards don't keep all winter problems at bay. He should know, he was the one usually causing them. At least he knew another winter spirit was present. He reached for the ice sealing the window pane, brow furrowing in confusion when it didn't answer him. Even if it was a magically conjured ice it should still respond, any ice made of water did.

 Frustrated, but impressed, he tried another window with the same luck. Whoever sealed them used something other than water, he decided, what he couldn't guess but hey, at least they had a sense of humor. Resigning himself to having to use the main entrance after all he circled the building, noting the absurd quiet of the workshop. Even without the sound of toymaking the Pole was a hive of activity, with foot traffic between the adjacent bubbles of buildings always heavy and loud. The Yeti were, like North, incapable of quiet conversation and the Elves literally had bells on them. It was a strange and, he'd admit, creepy silence.

 As he passed windows he reached out to the ice, testing weak spots, but whoever had sealed them had done their job well; the only answer he got was from the naturally formed ice of the Pole. He was a little irritated, but he could appreciate a good joke, even when he fell victim to it, and sealing the windows was exactly the kind of thing he'd do. He wouldn't put it past any of the Guardians to have orchestrated it either, to monitor the entrances or, most likely, make sure he couldn't sneak by them. They had a thing for grand entrances, and they were really gung ho about making his new status as Guardian of Joy a BIG DEAL.

 Except that the skylight was closed and sealed too and he was starting to get a little anxious. Someone had sealed everyone inside, and he couldn't get through it. He felt TwineTender's concern in his hands, and even the wind was getting angsty.

 He peered through the windows to take in the situation, no one seemed to realize they were locked inside, too engrossed in the festivities no doubt. Surely the Yeti would have noticed something off, unless they were taking some time off too? Someone had to cater, or at least ensure the elves didn't get into anything they weren't supposed to.

 He scanned the open floors for any of his friends, if he spotted them he could knock on a window near them and let them know. He really, REALLY didn't want some stranger to see him locked out of the party if this did end up being some prank.

 Boy would that be the gossip of the decade: Jack Frost locked out of his very first Guardian event.

 Sandy, impossible to miss, skimmed over heads as he moved effortlessly between floors, mingling with spirits as he passed. Sand figures sent simple visual messages to those who waved to him, but he was aiming for the Globe Room and didn't look to be stopping.

 With a backflip Jack swept down two floors and around to the windows of the reception area, rapping against the windows when he saw Sandy near them, but received as much acknowledgement as he did from the ice. Colorful feathers caught his eye and he looked to Tooth, knocking louder, but it wasn't Toothiana who glided up to meet the SandMan.

 It took Jack a moment, his brain not quite comprehending the person in front of him. It had been a long time since he had seen Pamola in his Moose skull hat.

 That... that made no sense. Pamola was dead, had passed on with the others at the end of the little Ice Age. How could he be here, at the Pole? It was a trick. Jack's fear surged and he banged on the window harder, hard enough it should have shattered. Pamola was dead and the windows were sealed and he could. Not. Get. Through!

 Pamola's massive wings folded closed as he turned, looking towards someone who had called him, opening his arms to his daughter as she ran to him and suddenly the rest of the floor was revealed to Jack. Packed with corpses.

But, they didn't look like corpses. They were animated, smiling and holding conversation and sharing in the food at the tables, there were corn cakes and fry bread among the European offerings, and other dishes, beans and rice that he could see but from a distance couldn't tell. Tamales wrapped in corn husks were piled on a plate near a god he saw only once when the Mojave had still been part of Mexico. North and his Yeti's idea of Mexican food went as far as chilli and bean burritos, teaching them how to make pico de gallo had been like a cultural arm wrestling match, how could they have made an entire batch of tamales?

 Bunny, as unmistakable as Sandy, exited the elevator onto the floor with a young woman, a girl really, in Mohawk regalia and curling vines in her hair by his side. Jack's heart stopped, frozen as the windowpanes, his bloody hands ceasing their persistent beat against the glass. She... she couldn't be there. What right, what fucking RIGHT did Bunny have to even look at her? At any of them? They were his dead, his friends and family and enemies, and the Guardians had no claim to them when they had never raised a hand in their defense.

 Jack reared back and rammed his shoulder into the glass, feeling the impact in his bones, all thoughts of imposters were smothered by his temper, a cold so severe it burned inside him beside the red hot coal of his long broken heart. The wind raged around him, battering at the shutters and ripping at wooden shingles, but TwineTender was silent. Jack flipped back, caught by the wind, and swung his staff in an arch that should have shot bolts of blue magic that devoured the energy in any particle it came in contact with, it should have blown the window in as the atoms reached zero-point, instead Jack hovered in the agitated wind, breathing heavily, blood from his abused hands freezing on his staff, TwineTender refusing his magic.

 A figure appeared in the window, watching him with dark eyes, iris and pupil matched. "Malsum..." he struggled to breathe around the tears that backlogged in his throat. The severe line of Flint's mouth curved up into a half smile, a pitying smile as he said the words Jack couldn't hear through the glass but knew in his heart. The last words Flint had said to him before disappearing from this world. "You can't come," the ghost said, "because you're not really one of us, and no matter how hard you or any of us try, you never will be."

 Then even the wind let him go.

*

 Jack fought his way out of the dream, clawing at the covers and gulping in air, his heartbeat was thundering through him like the hooves of stampeding mustangs. In the pit of his belly was a sick ball of fear, it viced his stomach even as he felt his body go cool and numb. The sound he made was a long low moan. He pressed a hand to his mouth to muffle it and terror swept through him. For a moment he was back in that lake. There was no air, he couldn't breathe, couldn't feel his body. He was thrown helplessly back into that nightmare, unable to fight his way out, to fight the change. He was cold, everything was so cold.

 He fought for breath, for sanity, his limbs were just asleep and he would regain feeling soon, he rubbed at his arms with what he thought was strong pressure to hurry it along, but jolted when his skin touched skin.

 He was shirtless? He didn't... he never slept without clothes during his season. He struggled to see through the darkness of the room, he felt Autumn in his magic, the arctic sun should be in perpetual twilight now but he saw nothing. It made him feel helpless, and brutally alone. He gripped the blanket close and reached for the lamp beside the bed but his arm was shaking too much to be of use. His fingers bumped his camera knocking it to the floor, they were still numb.

 Swearing he clenched his fist and rapped it against the lamp, the touch sensor igniting the fire and casting yellow light.

 North and his damn aesthetic.

 "Jack?" a shift and dip in the weight of the mattress accompanied by Bunny's voice propelled a fresh wave of panic and he bolted off the bed, slamming into the nightstand and sending the lamp to crash alongside him on the floor, shattering glass everywhere. Sensation was returning to him, tiny needle pricks of pain.

 He hadn't.. they hadn't? No, please no. The fisting hands clutching his guts churned into sickness.

 "Jack, hey, stop Jack, stop." Bunnymund's arms went around him, scooping him up off the floor but it only made his state of undress that much more obvious, with nothing but darkness around him he could feel soft downy fur in areas he knew in only the vaguest of memories.

 Low whimpering sounds escaped him; there was no denying what they had done.

 Light bloomed in the room, low and faintly pink."It's okay Jack, here, I'll just set ya on the bed is all, that’s it. Just get ya out of this glass." Bunny set him on the mattress, then pulled back, putting careful distance between them, hands out palms first like he was talking down a crazed animal. At his feet were two little glowing eggs, regarding him in their tilted faceless manner."Yer okay, just breathe, yer at the Pole, remember? Yer safe."

 Jack was shivering so hard his teeth clacked, and he clenched his jaw, biting the inside of his cheek to stop it. Bunny picked up the comforter and, maintaining arms length like Jack had smallpox, wrapped it around his shoulders. Jack pulled it tighter, covering his nudity, but it didn't hide the look on Bunny's face. Shame.

 Bunny hunched his shoulder, his hands clenching into fists at his side. "We, we actually..."

 A small hysterical laugh choked out of him. "You don't.. remember?" Hell, he was having a morning after incident with Bunny. The Universe was just fucking cruel.

 "We're at the Pole," Bunny' face was something twisted between a pout and a scowl, "and I'm hungover, which means we probably got drunk."

 Jack gagged on another bubble of laughter because this whole mess was not happening, it was not his life. Blackout drunk sex happened to other people, normal people, not Jack Frost. "Just let me..." he ran his hand over his face, tried to think back. The dream had him all fucked up timewise, but he regained his footing once he had the basics. "Cider," he managed to say between giggles that clogged his throat like hiccups.

 "Yeah, North's apple cider can knock ya on yer ass, and you don't usually drink."

 "I don't drink at all." Jack snapped, then pinched his nose when the pressure behind his eyes thrummed with the outburst. This was what a hangover felt like? Why did anyone drink if this was what they faced? Alcohol should have gone extinct. " Last night was the Autumnal Equinox remember? Harvest feast at the Pole. I'm in season, so I stayed in the Globe Room, drank and ate what North brought me. Figured two mugs of hard cider wouldn't hurt." North was one of those people who just didn't understand how someone couldn't drink, alcohol was like coffee to him. "I have no clue what you did with yourself half the night but it obviously involved enough firewater to burn away what little intelligence you had."

 "And... this?" Bunny gestured between them, still not saying the actual words. "It's... it's not what it looks like right? We... we didn't?" His eyes begged Jack to lie to him. Funny, Bunny begging should have been more satisfying. This just pissed him off.

 "Yes," Jack leveled a look as flat as the prairie at him, "we did."

 Bunny closed his eyes as if the words caused him physical pain and turned away. "This is a nightmare." he whispered.

 "No, last night was a nightmare." Jack snarled.

 "Yeah, nothing like being manipulated while drunk, A-plus seduction technique."

 "YOU!" Jack couldn't even think of what to say to that, he surged to his feet and marched for the door to kick Bunny out, completely forgetting about the glass in his anger until he gouged his foot. "Ah, FUCK!" he shouted, hopping on the ball of one foot and grabbing the other.

 "Here., lemme see." Bunny grabbed his arm and reached for the injured foot.

 "Don't touch me!" Jack swung around and Bunny was stunned at the raw fury in his face, more than the cold blast that knocked him back as Jack wrenched himself free. "I will tell you exactly when I want you to touch me!"

 Nausea rolled into Aster's gut that had nothing to do with the hangover, he let his arms rest neutral against his sides, nonthreatening. Temper had slapped color into Jack's cheeks, but his eyes were shadowed in that familiar pain. He was suddenly angry, deeply, bitterly angry. For years he had wanted to find the one who had put those shadows there and hurt them, hurt them in ways no Guardian could and still call themselves such, but this time the culprit was himself.

 "Jack," he began, struggling for calm, "that glass is spelled, we need to remove it before it becomes a problem."

 "The problem here, Bunny," Jack sneered at him, "is that you wanted me last night, and you enjoyed it. You want me again, you want to put your hands on me and for some reason that really pisses you o-" Jack bit the word off before he could gasp out the next, emotion choked him but he would bite his own tongue bloody before he let it show. "You blame me for that, hate me for that, FINE. I'm used to taking the blame, but I'll be damned if I'll let you accuse me of manipulating or seducing you!" He froze the wound and with a savage twist yanked the bloody ice out of his foot, glass shard and all, and threw it on the ground. The cut flowed with blood for only a moment, a hideous sickening moment, but Jack just froze it again.

 "I consented last night," He continued, planting both feet firmly on the floor though Bunny was sure doing so caused serious pain. "I knew better but I still agreed, and that's on me; but if you can't control your own fucking hormones that's YOUR problem, not mine."

 "I wasn't talkin about YOU." Bunny said harsher than he meant, and Jack raised his chin, back straight and ready for what Bunny would throw at him. It was the stance Bunny knew well now, Jack was preparing for someone to get in his face. He wondered how many had done so to create that instinctual reaction. "I'M the one who did this. You... you've made it clear what you think of these times of the year, but I pushed last night, and I shouldn't have. I don't know what I was thinking, normally I'm better at maintaining me dignity than that, but that doesn't make it yer fault. I'm sorry ya think I'd think that." Bunny's eyes burned into him with that same shame, but Jack, his temper deflating with each word, was beginning to understand the root of it. "Just because I have this attraction to you doesn't make it yer responsibility, yer right that I'm the only one what can control my hormones, and I'm sorry, truly sorry I didn't do a better job of it."

 Bunny closed his eyes tight, turning half away from Jack before stiffening his spine and forcing himself to make eye contact again, "I really did want you and I to be on better terms, this wasn't some end goal I had. I want to say that to you, believe it if you want but I won't blame you if you don't. I didn't plan on this happening, I won't lie and say I didn't think about it, but I never intended it to go this way."

 There was such pain in his voice, Jack should have stopped him there, but the words, the emotion was a balm against the raw ache of his heart. It was an apology he had waited centuries for, and if he closed his eyes he could pretend... pretend they were both somewhere else, someone else, two hundred years ago.

 "Nothing can make this right Jack, what I did to you... it's unforgivable."

 "Wait." Bubble popped Jack gaped at Bunny. The words he had wanted to hear for more than half his life did not apply to this situation, and an anxious little thought whispered through his brain that maybe Bunny was more than a little ashamed of a one night stand. "What you did to me... What exactly do you think you did?"

 Bunny's face clenched in pain, he shut his eyes tight and visibly made himself say it. "I.. I forced you to-"

 "Whoa whoa whoa, Hold on" Jack spoke over the words he really did not want Bunny to say. "That is NOT what happened. Did you not even hear me like, two minutes ago when I yelled at you?"

 "That I wanted you and I still want you, and yer right, even now I... but I have no right and I know it's awful of me, but I do. I'm so sorry."

 "Wow, okay, not even what you should be focusing on. My point is I said I consented. As in I said yes. You didn't force me to do shit."

 "I followed ya to your room, I cornered you, I pressured ya to-"

 "So you do remember that much. Yeah, you hit on me and got handsy, you are totally expected to feel shitty for that because that was definitely not kosher, and you would have absolutely deserved the colossal ass kicking you would have gotten had I not felt like accepting your slurred heavily accented sexual harassment."

 Bunny flinched, and Jack punched him in the arm. "Yeah, see THAT'S what you get to feel bad about, because that was fucked up, and I am still pissed at you, but less so now that you understand what a fucking creep you are. I'm debating on letting you know that even though I can smash your face in, it didn't get to the point you needed it; you're king douchebag when drunk, but you still take no for an answer. Hey." Jack reached out, initiating contact again as he touched Bunny's cheek. "Bunny, I said yes because as much as we go at each other I know you'd never hurt me. I'm surprised you'd think you would. You didn't make me do anything I didn't want. Except, you know, stopping out of nowhere."

 "You were crying." Bunny's voice was a hoarse whisper.

 "I.." Jack blinked at him in surprise, hoping it hid the tenseness in his spine, he could feel his limbs go numb with cold. "Bunny I was drunk," he laughed it off, pulling away before Bunny could feel his frozen fingers, "you're king of douche-land and I'm weepy, it's kinda why I don't like to drink. That and the whole, you know, alcoholic Indian stereotype. I got emotional, that's all. Most people would take that as a compliment."

 "You were crying," Bunny snapped, "how is that a compliment?"

 "Wow, you must never have gotten attached. Typical spring spirit I suppose, finish and roll off." Jack laughed again, and turned away, carefully stepping around the glass and the two little eggs guarding it to reach his wardrobe.

 "I did, once."

 "Did what? The seasonal stop drop and roll?" Jack looked back at Bunny with a smile that fell when he saw the pain on his face had only deepened.

 "Get attached."

 "Oh," was all Jack could say, and his heart ached a little at the past tense of it. "Ah, well crown me king of douche-land."

 "S'fine. It was a long time ago." Bunny reached down, careful of the glass to retrieve Jack's camera from the floor. "They died."

 Jack walked back, taking Bunny's large hands in his own. "I'm sorry for your loss."

 Bunny smiled at him, small and tense and sad. "My own fault, not being there for them when they needed me." He thought of his mate, his heart, and the future they never had. "Miscarriage, if someone had been there maybe... but no one was. Bled out, that’s all."

 There was nothing Jack could say to that, no sympathy he could offer, and Bunny didn't give him the opportunity to. He squeezed Jack's hands then let them go. "Well, here's yer crown then, King Douche." He picked Jack's camera up and looped the strap over his head.

 Jack accepted the subject change, "I don't know, there's significantly less bling than I'd expect for a douchebag crown."

 "Itsa poor country yer inheriting." Bunny informed mock seriously, "Everybody wastes their money on vice and nobody pays taxes."

 "Well I've never been a fan of taxes, and I'm always down for a little vice."

"I'll just bet ya are." Bunny chuckled. "Now, if we got that cleared up lemme see that foot of yours." He indicated Jack to sit. "North's magic tech is tricky."

"I'll never understand why he uses magic electric christmas lights outside but magic oil lamps in the rooms." Jack sat and pulled his foot across his thigh, realizing he was still naked. Well, it was a little too late to care about that, he'd look ridiculous if he tried to cover himself now. “I mean, at least have some consistency? Why does everything have to be magic AND something else? Why not just, you know magic?”

“North like’s making things, and he likes making magic. So the things he makes ends up being magic, even if they make no sense.” Bunny's hands were gentle as he probed the wound, using his touch to melt the frozen blood. It flowed easily under his thumb, an alarming amount of it. "Think ripping all that ice out carved it up inside."

"Nah, I always bleed like this." Jack said. "Cold constricts the blood vessels but it also slows the clotting, a normal human wouldn't lose much blood but..." Jack shrugged. "Moskim always just said my body followed the same rules I did: none."

"Ya must've been close, ya talk about him so much."

Jack smiled, "he looked out for me, no matter what mess I got in he always took my side, even if it was just calling me a reckless kid. "His expression turned sad, and sorry. "I miss them. Sometimes I can't stand how much I miss them. I keep waiting for the day when the grief dulls or fades, but it never does..."

"Sometimes." Bunny said, his breath hot on Jack's ankle, "Sometimes you forget they're gone, until something reminds you, and suddenly it's like watching them die all over again."

Jack studied him, Bunny was so focused on the wound on his foot, his hands and voice a gentle warmth. "Yeah," he said in a breathy whisper, "that's it exactly."

"We've all lost people Jack." Bunny met his eyes then, so intense a green zeroing in on his face. "We've all been hurt. If ya don't want to talk about what happened to ya, that's your choice and no one will push, because we all have things we don't want to share. But if ya ever need to, talk that is, you can talk to us. Any one of us."

He let the foot go, and Jack realized then that it wasn't just warm, the pain was gone. He pulled it back across his lap to look, and saw the cut healed to a raw pink scar.

"Wasn't sure how well I could heal ya, our magic is fair different, but I figured it was that or let the magic residue from the lamp fester innit"

"Thanks, for you know trying." Jack smiled. “And for the offer. I’ll… I’ll think about it.”

Bunny’s smile was as soft and warm as his touch had been. "Glad to help."

Jack opened his mouth to continue, but found nothing to say. Most of his conversations with Bunny involved arguments or whatever the topic was at hand, usually Guardian or seasonal stuff. They'd never talked until they had nothing left, and Jack found the silence uncomfortable.

His foot was going cold, he rubbed at the scar, his hands desperate for something to do without his staff, and missed the feel of warmth. Bunny was always warm, but so hesitant to touch him, and not just while they were in season. Even with these past few months of Bunny trying to build a better relationship between them he had avoided physical contact.

He had been so quick to let Jack go, last night as well as when he picked him up off the floor.

"I should... I should go." Bunny said and Jack nodded, there wasn't anything left for either of them to say. "I'll tell the elves ya knocked yer lamp over, they won't, ah, they’ll think nothing of me knowing."

Of course, because Bunny wouldn't want anyone to know where he spent the night.

"Was it, was it what you expected?" Bunny paused at the door and Jack bit his lip, unsure why he needed to know, but he'd never had the chance to ask why, why he had been left to wake alone all those years ago. Here was Bunny, leaving just as quickly, with the answer.

"It shouldn't have happened like that, Jack." Bunny pressed his forehead to the door and breathed deeply, he looked so pained. "It shouldn't have happened at all but... if there was a way that wasn't it."

It was stupid, that Jack would feel hurt about an answer he already knew, but he did.

"Sorry."

"Not your fault." Jack huffed a laugh and rubbed the heel of his hand against his burning eyes. "I'm the one who keeps fucking everything up."

"You do not fuck everything up." Bunny insisted.

"Yes I do." The dream symbolism was pretty plain, locked out. From his people and the Guardians. "I could have said no, I should have. Everything would be fine if I just sent you away last night, but I didn't. We were doing so well, but I was stupid and selfish and I messed it all up." It didn't matter if it was a physical door or not, there was always that space between him and everyone else.

An 'other'.

"Jack, I came to you."

"You were drunk." Jack insisted fisting his hands in his lap. "I was the one who should have known better."

"No." Jack was startled by how fast Bunny was in front of him, looming, and 300 years of standing up to beings that could destroy him only barely kept him from leaning back. "You don't get to blame yourself for what I did."

"Right, that terrible awful thing you did," Jack's laugh was so harsh it hurt his own throat. "Face it Bun, you were drunk and I was sober, and you're the one who can't escape fast enough. So which of us is the most guilty?"

"Esc-? I'm not trying to escape! You're the one who doesn't want me here."

"Who said I don't want you here?"

"How could ye want me here?! After everything I said, everything I did last night? How could ye stand to be in the same room as me?"

"For the love of- Bunny grow up, we didn't even do anything serious, you stopped before we got that far!"

"You were CRYING!"

"That never bothered anyone else!" Jack snapped his mouth closed with a clack of teeth but the words had already escaped like an action movie hero through the narrow opening. Bunny's eyes were so wide, like pockets of new spring grass in the melting snow. He couldn't stand them, couldn't understand them, why did they look at him like that now when they looked at him with such animosity so often before? "I don't get you." He said into the silence his confession created. "You act like you can't stand being around me most of the time, then you tell me you're attracted to me, but when we actually do end up.. like this.. you can't get away fast enough? If you just needed to get your rocks off isn't there some line of spring spirits willing to help you with that? Why, if you hate me so much... why go through all this?"

"I don't hate ye."

"I know that I- I'm not saying this right." Jack scrubbed at his face with his hands. "I know you don’t hate me, Bunny, and you’ve been trying to be friends or at least more than this.. not enemies thing we’ve been doing the past few years and I get that. We’re Guardians, we work together, but you, you’re doing too much! I understand the seasons okay, it’s annoying but it happens and when it does you can act differently, do things differently, things you’d never have done any other time of the year. Can’t you understand how it makes me feel? Yes, I hate the seasons, but it’s mostly for this exact reason! Everyone is all for it the night before but once it’s over they act like they can’t get an STD test fast enough, and you- you can barely stand to be near me during the rest of the year.” Jack gestured at Bunny open handed, as if to take everything about Bunny and display it in his palms. “You’re standing there now telling me how sorry you are and that it never should have happened, how exactly am I supposed to feel about that?”

“I don’t… I don’t understand what you’re asking?” Bunny was looking at him like he was speaking another language.

“What did I do wrong? Why does everyone just.. Just leave?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Bunny said, reaching out as if to touch him, but he curled his fingers in at the last moment, pulling his fist back.

“You can’t stand to touch me.”

“You hate being touched.”

“I- I don’t…” but he did, and of course Bunny would notice it, “I don’t hate it, I’m just not used to it, and when it does happen it.. It hurts.” Either the touch itself, or when it leaves, and it always leaves. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want it.”

“Even if it hurts?” Bunny’s voice was harsh again, angry. Jack struggled to understand why, his heart kicking up again under Bunny’s intense gaze. Little pockets of exposed green grass in the snow should never be trusted, that’s where the hunter’s lurked.

“Isn’t it better to hurt? Than feel nothing?” He asked, so very tired of trying to figure out Bunny’s thoughts.

“Not if there’s a third option it’s not.” Bunny growled, and Jack sagged, his hands going to the camera around his neck. This whole conversation had been a landmine from the start, but he should have just let Bunny leave when the topic was somewhat settled and their relationship back on neutral ground. He never should have asked when he already knew the answer. Bunny was right, this had all been a mistake.

“There are no other options.” He replied, staring down at the lens, the only window between himself and others he had for years, over a century, since the bulk of his people were murdered or faded from the world.  “Not for me.”

“Yes there are,” Bunny lashed out, grabbing Jack’s hands and yanking him up until they were standing flush, then remembered himself and let go, jumping back several feet. Jack wobbled a moment, frost shimmering like thrown glitter around him, then gained his balance. The fear had been so sudden, he hadn’t been afraid of Bunny in years, since he had let Pitch trash Easter, he had forgotten how much of a threat Bunnymund could be. “I’m sorry, Jack.” Bunny said from halfway across the room, looking like he was going to cry.

“I just need..” he needed to breathe like he wasn’t drowning. “Why are you so angry with me? You say it’s not my fault but you’re mad at me.”

“I’m sor-”

“STOP APOLOGIZING!” Jack shouted, ice creeping across the floor. “Just tell me what’s wrong, just, just talk to me. Please.” He couldn’t take this. Standing there, naked but for his camera, begging for answers to a question almost as old as he was. “Or go,” he added, “because I don’t have options like you do, but of the two I get right now I’m choosing the second.”

“I don’t mean to hurt you.”

“Then why do it?” Jack demanded, jutting his chin out the way he did when he was braced for a fight.

Bunny opened his mouth several times, but no words came.

After a few moments Jack sighed, removing the camera strap from his neck and sat back on the bed. The two little eggs still glowed near the broken glass, looking very unsure of themselves around all the glittering ice now stretching across the floor. Jack rotated his healed foot and thought back to the previous night. How Bunny had begged him, ‘let me have you,’ and held him so tenderly. The kindest anyone had ever held him since he first lost his virginity.

‘A mistake.’ ‘Wasn’t supposed to happen.’ ‘I’m sorry.’

"I dont like sex -STOP."He said firmly when Bunny got that stricken look on his face. " I already told you I wanted last night, you didn't force or pressure me, that's not what I'm trying to say." He set the camera back on the nightstand and folded his hands in his lap, studied the short rippled nails that tipped his fingers, unable to look at Bunny as he explained himself. "I don't hate sex. It's actually kinda fun, the few times I've done it, but when it's not right there in front of me, when I'm not in season, I don't even think about it. I'm just…  not interested."

"Most Seasonals are asexual outside of their estrus."

"Yeah but, even during my season I'm really not all that into it. It's so annoying, it's like here I am trying to change the leaves and ripen the nuts and I've got all these hormones suddenly dumped into my system and horny spirits hitting on me."

"Ah. Sorry." Was all Bunny could say around the lump in his throat.

"You weren't nearly that annoying" Jack laughed, and the act of it seemed to make the rest easier to say. "At least you took no for an answer, spring spirits aren't usually so tolerant of rejection."

Bunny went dangerously rigid, his fur puffing up like a pissed off cat. "Jack."

"Chill Bun, I'm an American Autumn spirit" He smiled, a sly vicious line across his face. "We're not known for our easy courtship." Bunny's eyes had gone that bright acidic green, the color of the biohazardous waste in old cartoon shows. Jack felt his pulse kick up a bit.

"That doesn't give anyone the right to force the issue."

"No Bunny, it doesn't." Jack said and couldn't help the warm affection that bloomed inside him as he finally realized the source of Bunny's anger. He felt a little ridiculous, having been so intimidated when it was just Bunny being protective. Silly Bun, didn’t he know Jack at all by now? “I understand Spring has its own culture, that the unavailable make themselves scarce, that you don't show up to an orgy if you're not looking for action. It's a culture clash, and while I'm not going to feel bad for knocking someone on their ass, I'm not going to gate crash Ostara and get offended at the PDA."

"Jack I.."

"I know spring is all flowers and bird nests and blushing virgins," Jack rushed ahead, desperate to say it, to be understood, " but Autumn isn't. Autumn is the deer and dens and the ripening fruit. Autumn is the Rut, Bunny, when the velvet sheds off, and it doesn't matter what gender or species or season you are, if you breed under the Autumn leaves you expect and respect those antlers."

Bunny regarded him with those hunter’s bait eyes. “Where are ye going with this, Frost?”

“Were you serious, when you said you still wanted me, even though you had no right to?”

Shame had Bunny’s bristled fur deflate and his ears plastered themselves against his head, but he didn’t look away. “Yes.” he admitted to it like a crime.

“Why? I know with the whole Northern Autumn and Southern Spring we have that compatibility thing, but why me?”

The question threw Bunny even more off balance. “I don’t… I don’t know. It’s never been… well it has been but not like.. Usually I can.. But with ye I can’t.”

What a complete dork, Jack thought as he watched Bunny stumble through his answer. Had they really just fought this entire time because of this? Now that Jack had some idea of Bunny’s problem suddenly the things that had confused and hurt him were.. cute. Bunny didn’t know how to talk to people, he knew that, but for some reason he had never applied it to this time of year.

“If I said yes, now, with both of us sober and nothing you can use to claim you ‘took advantage of me’, would you?” Jack may not know why Bunny wanted him, out of all the others he could choose, but he knew why he chose Bunny.

“Do…?” Bunny looked like Jack had just stabbed him in the gut. “Y-yes to what?”

Jack twisted his fingers, wishing he had something to fidget with. The idea had seemed sound until the words came out of his mouth. Now he felt silly. He was sitting naked on a bed in a room alone with Bunny, this should be so much more intimate and seductive than it was. “Yes to sex.” It was so much easier when others were asking him. They made it look so simple, flitting from person to person propositioning them like rejection didn’t hurt them at all.

“No.” The answer stunned them both, but Bunny bit his cheek and continued on. Even though saying it all while watching the hurt fill Jack’s eyes was like walking across the broken glass on the floor. “I wouldn’t feel… I’m not comfortable with sex, with you, right now. Not because I don’t want to.” Oh did he want to, Jack was on the bed in nothing but skin, skin warmed by the soft pink and yellow glow, glow from his googs. Jack was naked in front of him with only his eggs as a light. Something possessive, elementally territorial strained inside him. A yearning to keep Jack tucked safely in the dark and the warm. “Ya said you’re not used to being touched and.. And ye were crying. Jack I know ye said it was nothing but to me.. I can’t be with ye like that and feel.. feel right.”

“I see.” Jack felt sick, sick and tired and hurt.

“Maybe.. One day we could but...” Bunny couldn’t stand it, seeing Jack look so sad, but what could he do? You didn’t just.. Jump into something like this when your partner was so wounded. Jack needed time, and patience and gentle tending to heal, and he had obviously never gotten that. Could Bunny handle that kind of injury? With the problems and animosity between them, did he risk it?

“Why don’t we start over?” Bunny suggested and Jack had to force himself to relax, shoulders, neck, fisted hands, bit by bit until only his stomach clenched painfully when Bunny sat beside him on the bed. “Start slower?”

“How?” Jack’s voice was raw and he felt humiliation like bile in his throat. “How does that even work?”

“Like this: Jack, would ye like to have breakfast with me?”

Jack blinked, confused, and squinted at him. “Are you asking me on a date?”

“If ya want it to be. Breakfast in easiest, friendly, with no pressure to stay the night. It’s also right downstairs if ya want to get dressed.”

He leaned into Bunny's shoulder with a sigh. "You know? I’d actually like that.”

“Then it’s a date.”

A date, Jack closed his eyes and let the hurt go. A date was a good first step. “Yeah, it’s a date.”

“Good.” Bunny stroked a hand over Jack’s hair.

“Can I… can I ask one thing?” Jack shifted sideways just slightly so he could look Bunny in the eye as he asked. “Can I kiss you?”

He thought Bunny would refuse him, the way the pupils in those green eyes deepened like a shadow of a hunter across the grass and his mouth turned downward in a sad little grimace. He pulled away, but Bunny stopped him, warm hand on his shoulder, then up, up, cupping his neck, cradling his head in one large palm. “Yes.” Bunny said, and Jack would have cried if he didn’t know that would send Bunny out the door faster than a blizzard.

Their eyes held as he raised his mouth to Bunny’s, rubbed his lips gingerly, gradually, so that the warmth of it spread through them like creamy chocolate. His mouth stayed slow and gentle, waiting for Bunny to answer. It wasn't surrender he wanted, but a yielding, a soft liquid melding of lazy and excitement, they each trembled, pleasure rolled, layer by layer until the thick beat of his heart drowned out the guilt.

It was tender, and that was what he needed, needed to give and to have. To soothe away the stress and pain they had both already suffered. When Bunny sighed out Jack’s name he figured he was on the right track.

They moved slowly, touch, taste, lost themselves to the easy slide of lips, the shift of mouth, the glide of tongue. Setting rhythms and matching them, changing them.

Bunny eased back, sitting up to slide Jack into his lap. Jack floated, inch by inch everything in him, every muscle went lax and quivering, limp and lost. Grateful, knowing Bunny wouldn't ask more from him than he could give, he lifted his arms and wrapped them around him. With a murmur Bunny rolled them over, until he was stretched out and over and around Jack. The intimacy of it shimmered through him, enchanted Jack ran his hands over furred shoulders, through that thick ruff, down his back, pleased with the contrast of soft fur and hard muscle.

“We’re gonna miss brekkie.” he whispered against Jack’s lips.

“Ask me to brunch.”

“Alright.” Bunny pulled Jack’s hand away from his shoulders, kissed his fingers, his palm, his wrist. “All right?” he asked, to make sure.

“Yes.” Jack hissed pulling Bunny back to him.

“Tell me if it’s not.” Bunny pleaded. “Tell me what you don’t like.”

“I will.” Jack reassured, slid his body up, keeping only a breath apart. “Nervous?”

“A little. Not used to it,” not technically a lie, he scraped his teeth carefully over Jack’s lower lip, “and I like kissing you.”

“I can’t imagine why, I’m not very good at it.”

Bunny’s mouth curved as he brushed it over Jack’s, “I’d debate that, but I’m not experienced enough.”

“You’re kidding,” Jack pulled back and just stared.

“Not many people want to kiss an overgrown rabbit.” Bunny tried to be casual, but it was an old hurt. One person had kissed him, his very first kiss, and for three days he had never wanted to stop.

He didn’t know what to make of this new attraction with Jack, but kissing was on the agenda.

Jack ran his tongue over his teeth. “Well.” he said with that sly sharp little smile creeping its way across his face like cracks in the ice. “We’ll have to fix that won’t we?

“Oh?” Bunny’s pulse kicked up. “Will we?”

“Of course, practice after all,” Jack’s voice went husky, his breath a cool mist against Bunny’s lips, “makes perfect.”

“Ye dag.” He caught Jack’s lower lip and bit.

Jack choked on the giggle in his throat at his own joke. The unexpected bite, the sharp sudden demand, sent a hot thrill through him that streaked down to throb between his legs. Staggered Jack clenched his fists in Bunny's fur. He hadn't known that simple kissing, the slide of mouth on mouth, could cause such wild aches in so many places.

Jack moved under Bunny, a shift, then an arch, anything to sooth those aches, but Bunny held him immobile, imprisoned, anchored to the bed and gave him more. When Bunny's mouth turned greedy and his tongue slipped hot inside him he met it, delighted. Jolts of energy snapping through his system. He arched again, frustrated with his inability to move, the need for friction, for release was greater than he imagined.

Bunny didn’t trust himself to move, the feel of Jack under him, the taste and scent of him, was a shock to his system. He feared if he shifted, gave into that pleasure, he would rush it and deny them both.

So he lingered, worrying Jacks lower lip with tongue and teeth, tormenting them both.

Jack writhed, tried to roll free, tried to buck, but Bunny remained as he was, his large hands cupped around Jack's face as though everything he wanted centered right there.

The shifts and quakes in Jack were spreading, building. There was excitement in not knowing, not being able to control or catch his breath, not knowing what Bunny's mouth would do next. His mouth, his lips devoured, daring Jack to keep pace, making it impossible to do anything but stumble blindly. Jack moaned, the ache unbearable, he moved restlessly beneath Bunny to soothe it, and only deepened the throb. He dragged his hands through fur, yanking handfuls.

Bunny had to tear his mouth away, press it to Jack's throat, blood throbbed painfully in his head, his heart, his crotch, the pulse under his lips beat equally strong, equally fast. Jack took in greedy gulps of air, he couldn't hear himself begging, but Bunny could, quick wild whimpers.

That was good, was all he could think, because he didn't know how he'd feel if he was the only one undone by this, by simple kissing.

“You sure you’re not experienced?” Jack asked when he regained his breath.

“Ye sure you’re not good at it?” Bunny countered and Jack huffed a laugh that pressed them closer. Bunny nosed behind Jack’s ear, breathing in his unique scent, a winter spirit that smelled like soil and damp dry leaves, he ran his tongue under Jack’s jaw tasting salt and skin.

“You dork, you did most of the work.” Jack bit back a noise as Bunny’s tongue explored his throat.

“An artist is only a good as his model.” was Bunny’s reply before he took Jack’s ear into his mouth.

Jack’s gasp and shudder broke through his languid exploration and he pulled back, staring down at his flushed and trembling partner. “Ah, sorry, my mouth wandered.”

“Maybe,” Jack said as flatly as his erratic breathing allowed, “it should keep wandering.”

Uncertain Bunny hesitated. “I thought we agreed to stay with kissing?”

“Bunny, Bun, I can’t believe I have to say this to a spring spirit but,” Jack’s dangerous thin ice smile was back. “Kissing can cover a LOT of ground.”

*

Mahtalapaè - bad weather in the morning

Fun science fact: There are three North Poles: The Geographic Pole which is a fixed point diametrically opposed to the terrestrial South Pole, it is sometimes submerged in water. The North Magnetic (Dip) Pole is the only place where your compass will point downward but it is not matched up with the South Dip Pole due to fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field. The Geomagnetic North Pole is the antipodal magnetic pole, that is it is aligned with the South Geomagnetic Pole, this is the one that reverses every half a million years and the one with the most spectacular Aurora sights, which occur in a ring around the Pole. Only the Geographic pole is stationary, the Dip Pole and Geomagnetic Pole both migrate based on the rotation of the Earth's magnetic field.


End file.
